When this picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1778, a contemporary critic wrote admiringly 'the design is faultless, the costume happily preserved, the light sweetly distributed, the distances finely kept, and the colouring is bold, vigorous and warm. The subject gives the idea of the sultry effect of a summer day...If we can see any fault in the piece it is the drawing of the figures'. Wilson, as was his custom, has elongated his figures in the manner of Claude.
